Jalen Gaffney Transferring

[Fairfield_1st]

For all of you who blame Dan Hurley for missing on RD, keep in mind that Diggins was apparently fooling other coaches and the recruiting services all at the same time. "Diggins, who chose UConn over Villanova, Kansas, Florida, Seton Hall and others...". Per 247 he was #59 nationally and the 10th best PG. Plus, a little early to call it a miss since he's only played one season. Maybe he ends up in the NBA, maybe nowhere in particular, but it's a little early to call him a failure. Unless we're all descendants of Nostradamus, we have no clue how his college career will turn out and basing our assessments on a failed freshman season isn't ideal.
Good luck to JG & RD. Here's hoping we find replacements that are ready to contribute.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

He does not cherish possession of the ball and is way to reckless. He would be a very good point forward who is the #2 guy in regards to distribution.

What are you talking about? He won’t cherish the possession? He can play POINT forward but not POINT guard? In either scenario he’d be the point and it’s pretty much semantics beyond that.

 

[Fishy]

That’s definitely a function, but I don’t know if it’s the biggest one. The biggest one is to ease the movement of successful players from lesser programs to better programs.

If you look at football, something like 35-40% of P5 transfers did not have a spot as of Februry something and like 20-25% of those who did dropped to FSC. I am sure some have landed since then, but can you imagine what the numbers are for the G5 and lower?

 

[RJScootin]

I think this begs the question (excluding Whaley and Polley who had to leave anyway) does the departure of Cole, Martin, Gaffney, and Diggins cast a bad impression on Hurley, that something is not "right" with the program?

I think this is showing the right direction for Hurley and the program.

 

[lange10]

Yeah. He went out and got Kwintin Williams, Antwoine Anderson, David Onuorah, Sidney Wilson and Eric Cobb.

Didn't exactly work out.

On an unrelated note to this thread, that clown, Oz, was hosting a Twitter space yesterday “UConn MBB coaching search” complaining about Hurley’s recruiting. I couldn’t unmute fast enough to ask if we should go back to recruiting the likes of Dave Onourah, Cobb & Kwintin Williams off Instagram, like his guy was doing at the end of his tenure.

As for Gaffney, I wish him well. This will benefit us for next year. However, it makes me even more upset about Diggins leaving. It is what it is. I’d absolutely love Miller from Illinois/LSU, and 2 older guards.

 

[CL82]

If you look at football, something like 35-40% of P5 transfers did not have a spot as of Februry something and like 20-25% of those who did dropped to FSC. I am sure some have landed since then, but can you imagine what the numbers are for the G5 and

I don’t dispute any of that but it’s like panning for gold. Panning for gold is an extraordinarily efficient method to get non-gold particles in a pile of sludge. In fact the vast majority of the stuff that gets panned ends up there, but that’s not its purpose.

 

[JMick]

Seriously. How many Hurley haters who were saying "we can't rely on Gaffney or Diggins as our PG" are now also saying "Gaffney and Diggins leaving is a catastrophe"?

Exactly. Could it be catastrophic that neither worked out and we're left with no PG right now? Yes. But we were left with no quality starting or quality backup PG if they stayed either.

They're separate issues and people are conflating the two

 

[JMick]

On an unrelated note to this thread, that clown, Oz, was hosting a Twitter space yesterday “UConn MBB coaching search” complaining about Hurley’s recruiting. I couldn’t unmute fast enough to ask if we should go back to recruiting the likes of Dave Onourah, Cobb & Kwintin Williams off Instagram, like his guy was doing at the end of his tenure.

As for Gaffney, I wish him well. This will benefit us for next year. However, it makes me even more upset about Diggins leaving. It is what it is. I’d absolutely love Miller from Illinois/LSU, and 2 older guards.

I forgot all about him. I can't imagine wanting to follow him on Twitter lol

 

[Umami Zen]

You don’t hold an impromptu media availability like that unless you’re trying to get ahead of bad news. Buckle up.

Seemed to me that Dan Hurley was trying to get ahead of some narrative/news by making himself available when he did.. I'm sure he was encouraged by AD Dave to do so.

As they say in the business world.. Make a friend of change.

 

[Rico444]

For all of you who blame Dan Hurley for missing on RD, keep in mind that Diggins was apparently fooling other coaches and the recruiting services all at the same time. "Diggins, who chose UConn over Villanova, Kansas, Florida, Seton Hall and others...". Per 247 he was #59 nationally and the 10th best PG. Plus, a little early to call it a miss since he's only played one season. Maybe he ends up in the NBA, maybe nowhere in particular, but it's a little early to call him a failure. Unless we're all descendants of Nostradamus, we have no clue how his college career will turn out and basing our assessments on a failed freshman season isn't ideal.
Good luck to JG & RD. Here's hoping we find replacements that are ready to contribute.

A school can offer a kid without recruiting them heavily. We only recruit a fraction of the kids we give offers to. I don't recall Bill Self coming to watch a bunch of Rahsool's games.

I'm not saying it's definite that these big schools didn't have legitimate interest, but just saying "Kansas and Villanova offered" isn't enough to prove that a kid is a good player.

 

[CTBasketball]

On an unrelated note to this thread, that clown, Oz, was hosting a Twitter space yesterday “UConn MBB coaching search” complaining about Hurley’s recruiting. I couldn’t unmute fast enough to ask if we should go back to recruiting the likes of Dave Onourah, Cobb & Kwintin Williams off Instagram, like his guy was doing at the end of his tenure.

As for Gaffney, I wish him well. This will benefit us for next year. However, it makes me even more upset about Diggins leaving. It is what it is. I’d absolutely love Miller from Illinois/LSU, and 2 older guards.

Oh man I was in there too. I hope you stayed for the literal screaming match between Oz, his pal, and T God from Villanova.

Nothing like telling a 20 year old on Twitter that you banged his mom. The Ollie clan is a gift that never stops giving.

 

[aburks41]

Oh man I was in there too. I hope you stayed for the literal screaming match between Oz, his pal, and T God from Villanova.

Nothing like telling a 20 year old on Twitter that you banged his mom. The Ollie clan is a gift that never stops giving.

I may or may not have gotten into the mud with those clowns in that space yesterday too...they're all so stupid it's fun to mess with them

 

[CheshireCat]

Best of luck to him. Now let's go build a monster back court with a fresh start

As long as parents and player supporters don’t see any tape of Dan Hurley on the sidelines, the Huskies are golden in the portal.

 

[BGesus4]

I forgot all about him. I can't imagine wanting to follow him on Twitter lol

I’ll never forget, “Diallo is coming…”

 

[aburks41]

For all of you who blame Dan Hurley for missing on RD, keep in mind that Diggins was apparently fooling other coaches and the recruiting services all at the same time. "Diggins, who chose UConn over Villanova, Kansas, Florida, Seton Hall and others...". Per 247 he was #59 nationally and the 10th best PG. Plus, a little early to call it a miss since he's only played one season. Maybe he ends up in the NBA, maybe nowhere in particular, but it's a little early to call him a failure. Unless we're all descendants of Nostradamus, we have no clue how his college career will turn out and basing our assessments on a failed freshman season isn't ideal.
Good luck to JG & RD. Here's hoping we find replacements that are ready to contribute.

And for those who treat recruit ratings as gospel, go take a look at the top 30 recruits from each of the past 5 years. Half the names aren't even recognizable because they flamed out. There's no guarantees with these ratings

 

[Excalibur]

The "discount aisle" comment tells me that people are still scarred by the Ollie experience. Plenty of teams took big leaps this year by shopping at the same discount aisle. If he can't get anyone, or the guys he does get are terrible, I'll be the first to say it's starting to fall apart.

 

[aburks41]

As long as parents and player supporters don’t see any tape of Dan Hurley on the sidelines, the Huskies are golden in the portal.

Have you ever seen Eric Mussleman? He's literally the SEC Dan Hurley. He has the #2 recruiting class coming in next year. Shut up

 

[Skiblets]

I hope Hurley has been doing some big-time portal tampering leading up to these last two days

 

[UconnU]

A school can offer a kid without recruiting them heavily. We only recruit a fraction of the kids we give offers to. I don't recall Bill Self coming to watch a bunch of Rahsool's games.

I'm not saying it's definite that these big schools didn't have legitimate interest, but just saying "Kansas and Villanova offered" isn't enough to prove that a kid is a good player.

Yep. Both Diggins and Gaffney were offered by most of the major schools in the northeast but we were really the only school that prioritized them and we didn’t prioritize Gaffney until it was clear we were off the mark with Wong.

 

[UConnJim]

If you look at football, something like 35-40% of P5 transfers did not have a spot as of Februry something and like 20-25% of those who did dropped to FSC. I am sure some have landed since then, but can you imagine what the numbers are for the G5 and lower?

Last year, the vast majority of 4* and 5*'s guards that transferred went from P6 to P6. A handful transferred to a G5 program. For 3 stars and below, the numbers seem all over the place as you would expect. But, like football, there is not a significant number of players moving from lower level programs to P6 programs.

Cole was a rare exception, so I would expect the guards UConn will target in the portal are already on P6 rosters and are transferring due to a coaching change, playing time, or poor team performance.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If you look at football, something like 35-40% of P5 transfers did not have a spot as of Februry something and like 20-25% of those who did dropped to FSC. I am sure some have landed since then, but can you imagine what the numbers are for the G5 and lower?

Football is really different. Massive roster size (NCAA allows 105, 85 is minimum) means the big schools dramatically over-recruit. NFL rosters are 53. So there will be many kids who never play that can now transfer down and out.

 

[3rdbass]

This actually terrifies me. I’m a big AJ fan, and I wouldn’t mind him getting some minutes at the point, but he’s a long way away from being a starting point guard.

If you look at my post history you know I'm being sarcastic. I'm horrified if he is the person that will be given the keys to run the team. I don't mind him in Point forward position like D-ham but I want a real PG who can create for other while keeping defenders honest by looking for their own shot.

 

[CL82]

Yep. Both Diggins and Gaffney were offered by most of the major schools in the northeast but we were really the only school that prioritized them and we didn’t prioritize Gaffney until it was clear we were off the mark with Wong.

Well, yeah, we went with Gaffney because we couldn’t go Wong.

 

[UCSouth]

They should reinstate the year sit rule. It’s not healthy for the game to have this many kids in the portal and it absolutely benefits the bigger name schools.

So what you're saying is that it should benefit us?

 

[SeattleHoop]

His game is easy to like but we need a lot more production and a lot fewer "nice flashes".

In Feb/March he averaged 5.6/5.5/3.4 and shot 37.5% from the floor. It's just not great, yet. We are throwing around the idea of a massive increase in his role and responsibilities. I love him as a secondary playmaker but I think we're in deep crap if he's our starting point guard.

I mean I just simply disagree. I think he’s in a much better position as a distributor than us relying on him as a scoring wing.

His natural tendency is to find people in scoring spots. He has the vision, passing skills ams athletiscism to get where he needs to be and find people in spots where they can score.

He’s more of an asset at the PG position imo than any other position. His assist numbers show this.

He can be something really special at that position and I think Hurley thinks so too

 

[Fairfield_1st]

A school can offer a kid without recruiting them heavily. We only recruit a fraction of the kids we give offers to. I don't recall Bill Self coming to watch a bunch of Rahsool's games.

I'm not saying it's definite that these big schools didn't have legitimate interest, but just saying "Kansas and Villanova offered" isn't enough to prove that a kid is a good player.

I get that. But I don't think a school would offer a guy they didn't think could play there. They may not be the first choice, but should work as the 2nd or 3rd option.
My point was just that others have seen RD in HS/AAU and rated him highly and offered him scholarships. He clearly showed something and maybe will still pan out somewhere.

 

[Shamon30]

Not surprised at all. Hurley is actively looking for a starter and he knows he will be relegated to 10 minutes a game again.

All the guards on the active roster are now gone with just a redshirt guard coming in. Comical.

We still have Andrew Hurley!

 

[auror]

The "discount aisle" comment tells me that people are still scarred by the Ollie experience. Plenty of teams took big leaps this year by shopping at the same discount aisle. If he can't get anyone, or the guys he does get are terrible, I'll be the first to say it's starting to fall apart.

The portal is two bins. It used to mostly just be the 1 (except for rare cases when a coach got promoted or whatever), because strong players usually didn't want to sit out. But now it is a "Discount Bin" and a "Now Featuring" bin.

There are players too good or too bad for their level. It works both ways. Our program is in a good spot, so we get to shop at the Now Featuring bin. This bin has guys that worked out the rawness at a lower level and now have a complete game. Or who prove the doubters about their size or skill level wrong and have proven to be capable players. There's also the guys whose coach left and were already high major in there.

Diggins and Gaffney are both in the discount bin, but Diggins will likely get a high major team to take the chance and shop in there for him.

 

[auror]

I mean I just simply disagree. I think he’s in a much better position as a distributor than us relying on him as a scoring wing.

His natural tendency is to find people in scoring spots. He has the vision, passing skills ams athletiscism to get where he needs to be and find people in spots where they can score.

He’s more of an asset at the PG position imo than any other position. His assist numbers show this.

He can be something really special at that position and I think Hurley thinks so too

Jackson has PG attributes, like vision. But he's lacking PG skill and experience in a couple areas. He doesn't have the handle or savvy running a pick and roll, for one. That's one of the main things our roster is currently lacking and developing PnR reads is generally a skill built up over lots of repetition and instinct, so unlikely to develop over one summer. It also relies on a foundation of ballhandling and driving, which is not his forte either.

Jackson, if he were going to be in a distributor in our offense, will likely operate in a different/more creative manner. But we still need that pick and roll ballhandler for many situations. We absolutely need someone in the portal who has PnR savvy.

 

[amishboy]

Good luck to Jalen. Not a huge surprise by any measure. We need some guards!!

“Not a huge surprise,“ in retrospect? Or did you believe this was coming, say, 3 days ago, i.e., pre-Diggins transfer?